After Pimduan “Duan” Nagaviroj heard concerning the drowning dying of 37-year-old Nida Patcharaveerapong in February, she joined hundreds of thousands of different Thais in watching the livestream of the funeral honoring the well-known TV actress, higher generally known as Tangmo.
Duan, who works as a consul of the Royal Thai Consulate Normal in Penang, Malaysia, was intrigued by the gospel message introduced within the three-day memorial.
“I paid consideration to every thing mentioned and was most impressed by the message that Christians don’t worry dying,” she mentioned. “I realized that God loves everybody, and I made a decision that I needed to know him.”
After the third evening of the service, she messaged the church contact listed on the livestream to be taught extra about Christianity, and the church employees inspired her to discover a native church. She visited Wesley Methodist Church in Penang and joined the church’s on-line Alpha Course, an evangelism program. “After just a few classes, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and I needed to be baptized,” she mentioned.
Pastors in Bangkok say Tangmo’s memorial service in March was the biggest evangelistic outreach ever placed on in Thailand, the place 93 p.c of the inhabitants is Buddhist and solely about 1 p.c Christian. Whereas Tangmo was recognized for her appearances in Thai dramas and her tabloid-headline exploits, she additionally stood out as an outspoken Christian.
The livestream of the memorial introduced in 12 million views, and Thai pastors say that afterward, they noticed a rise in newcomers fascinated with studying extra about Christianity.
“God opened a door by way of the dying of a girl who cherished God immensely,” mentioned Thongchai Pradubchananurat, who pastors Bangkok’s Church of Pleasure and preached at Tangmo’s funeral. “Tangmo’s life was not good, however she was saved by Jesus.”
Movie star turned outspoken Christian
Tangmo was born in 1984, and after her mother and father break up up when she was younger, she was raised by her Christian father. She attended a Christian non-public faculty, although she not often went to church. After she positioned fourth in Miss Teen Thailand in 2002, a TV producer approached her about performing, launching her leisure profession. Tangmo quickly grew a following for her work in standard dramas equivalent to Bangkok Love Tales 2: Innocence, Membership Friday The Sequence, and ใบไม้ที่ปลิดปลิว (The Fallen Leaf), in addition to singing and modeling.
Tangmo additionally gained visibility by way of her relationship with actor and singer Pakin “Tono” Kumwilaisuk. By 2013, the 2 had been residing collectively. When Tangmo needed a Christian marriage ceremony, her buddy advisable she meet with Chatchai Charuwatee, pastor at Binding Hearts Church in Bangkok.
After Charuwatee shared his testimony with the pair, Tono mentioned he needed to turn into a Christian whereas Tangmo rededicated her life to Christ, in line with the pastor. Charuwatee taught them the Bible and married them in December 2013. A number of months later, he baptized the couple.
Afterward, they joined a cell group at Pradubchananurat’s church, attending usually whilst their marriage fell aside and led to divorce in 2015. Within the aftermath, Tangmo struggled with melancholy and was hospitalized for making an attempt suicide. Nonetheless, Pradubchananurat mentioned Tangmo “was rising in her Christian religion” and continued to be concerned within the church.
Tangmo spoke overtly about Christianity in interviews. As a visitor on the TV present Disclosure in 2017, the actress shocked the hosts when she mentioned she needed to be a “full-time minister of God.” She defined that she attended church thrice every week for worship and small teams, and he or she’s seen her life change.
Pradubchananurat mentioned Tangmo had deliberate to enter full-time ministry after ending her faculty diploma. But only a month after commencement, Tangmo died after falling off a speedboat into the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok.
Thailand’s largest evangelistic outreach
The mysterious circumstances surrounding her dying led to huge media curiosity and protection of her funeral. Followers speculated on-line whether or not the dying had been an accident or tried homicide, scouring video footage, questioning the reliability of Tangmo’s buddies on the boat, and poking holes within the police’s narrative. Six months after her dying, prosecutors charged six suspects for recklessness resulting in dying.
Pradubchananurat famous that 600 relations, buddies, followers, and reporters attended the funeral at Liberty Church, and the livestream reached hundreds of thousands of Thais. Buddhists who had by no means been to church listened to worship songs, sermons by Pradubchananurat and Charuwatee, and the testimony of Tangmo’s life.
Pradubchananurat preached on John 13:1, noting that nobody is aware of when they’ll die, so they need to be ready and present family members they care whereas they’re nonetheless alive. He additionally spoke about how “to stay is Christ and to die is achieve” (Phil. 1:21) and the necessity to stay a God-pleasing life, blessing others and introducing others to Jesus Christ.
Picture: Courtesy of Seree Lorgunpai / Illustration by CT
Liberty Church
Within the months after the service, a number of hundred newcomers visited Liberty Church. CGNTV Thailand, a Korea-based Christian TV community, mentioned that in March alone, 120 folks contacted them about changing into Christians, a sixfold improve. A number of different church buildings additionally famous that they noticed extra newcomers to their worship providers after the funeral.
Pradubchananurat himself has seen the memorial’s influence in his life: When he attended the cremation of his sister-in-law at a Buddhist temple three months later, a monk informed him he preferred his sermon. Pradubchananurat gave him two Christian books to learn. Lately as Pradubchananurat went to get a haircut, the barber acknowledged him from the memorial service, and the pastor used the chance to share the gospel.
Affect on abroad Thais
The memorial additionally modified the lifetime of 40-year-old Sirimas Amatayakul Kuipers, also referred to as Benz, who at the moment lives in Chicago. Benz attended Wattana Wittaya Academy, a Christian boarding faculty, the place she remembered singing Christian songs and listening to about God, however didn’t put her religion in God.
When she was 28, she acquired a e-book concerning the testimonies of a number of Thai Christian celebrities and prayed to just accept Jesus in her coronary heart. Nonetheless, afterward she didn’t inform anybody about her conversion—not even her Christian husband—and with none Christian buddies or mentors, she didn’t develop in her religion.
When she heard about Tangmo’s dying, she was stunned to listen to Pradubchananurat preach on the memorial—he was the daddy of considered one of her classmates at Wattana. She watched all three days of the memorial service.
Picture: Illustration by CT / Supply Pictures: Courtesy of Seree Lorgunpai
Reverend Thongchai preaching on the memorial.
“This was the primary time that I listened to a Thai sermon and understood,” Benz mentioned. “The messages went into my coronary heart.”
She began listening to messages from Church of Pleasure, joined a church in Chicago, and reached out to Pradubchananurat about becoming a member of a cell group. The pastor inspired her to start out a web-based group with different abroad Thais. At present the group has grown to 11 members.
Duan in Penang can be a part of the cell group. When her father heard of her conversion from Buddhism to Christianity, he apprehensive that nobody would make advantage (or do good deeds to safe a greater afterlife) for him and his spouse after they died. Duan requested her Christian buddies to wish for her father, and shortly she started to see a change of coronary heart. He purchased a aircraft ticket to Penang to witness her baptism, regardless of his COVID-19 fears. On the day of the ceremony, he was moved to tears listening to the worship staff follow.
“I was so self-centered,” Duan mentioned. “Now my father has observed the change and is glad to see me being extra affected person and joyful.”
Duan famous that she had beforehand adopted Tangmo within the information and pitied her. However now she finds Tangmo’s interviews on her religion inspiring. “If I had not watched the memorial ceremony, I’d have missed the chance to turn into Christian.”
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